Continuous scouring process

ABSTRACT

TEXTILE FABRICS MORE ESPECIALLY OF WOOL ARE SCOURED BY WETTING WITH SOLUTIONS OF SURFACE ACTIVE AGENTS AND PASSING THEM THROUGH A BED OF VIBRATING METAL OR GLASS BALLS. THE FABRIC MAY BE WETTED EITHER BY IMPREGNATION BEFORE PASSAGE THROUGH THE BED OF BALLS OR THE BED ITSELF MAY BE IMMERSED IN A BATH OF THE SOLUTION.

July 6, 1971 A. JOHNELS 35%,325

CONTINUOUS SCOURING PROCESS Filed 001;. 28. 1968 ENVENTOR ARNE JOHNELS n a I I A'r'romt-iivs United Smtes Patent Ofiice 3,591,326 CONTINUOUS SCOURING PROCESS Arne Johnels, Boras, Sweden, assignor to I.W.S. Nominee Company Limited, London, England Filed Oct. 28, 1968, Ser. No. 771,021 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 26, 1967, 48,812/ 67 Int. Cl. D01c 3/00 U.S. Cl. 8-139 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Textile fabrics more especially of wool are scoured by wetting with solutions of surface active agents and passing them through a bed of vibrating metal or glass balls. The fabric may be wetted either by impregnation before passage through the bed of balls or the bed itself may be immersed in a bath of the solution.

This invention relates to a process for scouring mate rials continuously.

In the manufacture of woven textile fabrics, the fabrics are scoured after Weaving. In this process, the fabrics are subjected to mechanical agitating in the presence of surface active agents in order to achieve two principal results.

Firstly, the fabrics are cleaned in that the washing action of the mechanically agitated scouring liquors removes textile oils and other contaminants acquired by the yarns in the course of their production and conversion into the fabric.

The second effect of the scouring treatment is that the fabric is subjected to a milling action which brings about fulling, that is to say, individual yarns in the fabric tend to increase in diameter and there is a consequent reduction in size of spaces between adjacent yarns.

A disadvantage of known scouring processes is that they are carried out in the batch, generally in a scouring winch. The process is time-consuming, and the amount of material which can be treated in a winch is limited. Accordingly, a large number of winches may be required in order that sufficient fabric can be scoured at any one time for the flow of fabric not to be delayed, or for stocks of unscoured fabric to be prevented from becoming undesirably large.

It has now been found that textile material can be scoured efficiently and in a continuous manner if it is wetted with a solution, usually aqueous, of a surface active agent and is passed through a bed of heavy particles which are maintained in a state of vibration. Under these conditions, not only are the contaminants in the material brought into the condition 'whereby subsequent rinsing of the material causes their removal, but in addition the milling action brought about by these heavy particles achieves efficient fulling.

The process can be applied to various types of textile fabrics, although especially good results have been obtained with fabrics made of woven wool yarns.

The invention also provides apparatus for continuously scouring textile materials which comprises a container containing a bed of heavy particles, means for guiding a textile material through the bed of particles, means for applying to the material a solution of a surface active agent whereby the material is wet with the solution at least during its passage through the bed, and means for vibrating the bed of particles While the material passes therethrough.

The surface active agents which can be employed are those normally encountered in scouring processes; thus they can be anionic, cationic or nonionic in character. In general, mixtures of surface active agents are preferred,

3,591,326 Patented July 6, 1971 for example, a mixture of soap and a surface active agent. Examples of such agents are secondary alcohol sulfonates sold under the trademark Teepol, and the condensation product of ethylene oxide and an alkylphenol sold under the trademark Nonide.

The solution of the surface active agent can be used in different ways. For example it can be applied to the fabric before it is passed into the bath of vibrating particles or, alternatively, the fabric can be passed into a bed of particles which are vibrating in a solution of the surface active agent.

The particles can be of any material provided it is sufiiciently dense and also inert to the scouring liquors. Metal and glass balls have been found to give very good results. The sizes of the particles can also vary over a fairly wide range, although the particles must be fairly heavy if the desired effects are to be achieved. For example, when the particles are made of glass or steel, which may respectively have specific gravities of 3.4 and 7.8, the particles should preferably have diameters in the range of from 4l0 mm., although particles of smaller or larger sizes can be used. The particles can be made to vibrate by any convenient means. For example, if they are ferromagnetic or contain such material, vibration may be achieved by electromagnetic means. A more convenient method has been found in which the particles are contained in a suitable container which is subjected to high speed vibration by mechanical means.

The particles are preferably made to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal movement of the fabric, with a frequency of 10-1000 cycles per second, and preferably of about 50 cycles per second. The amplitude of vibration lies usually within the range of 0.1-10 mm. and preferably from l2 mm.

The process can be carried out at ambient or elevated temperatures. In general, however, the latter are to be preferred, and temperatures in the range of 4070 C. are found to give very good results. When elevated temperatures are to be employed, the bath containing the vibrating particles may need to be heated, and this can be achieved conveniently by injecting steam into the bottom of the bath.

In operation, a continuous strip of fabric is passed at a predetermined speed through the bath so that it remains in contact with the vibrating particles for sufficient time for scouring to be effected. The residue time, that is, the time that the fabric needs to be subjected to the action of the particles in order to achieve the desired effect, is dependent on a number of factors, for example, the type of fabric under treatment, the shape, weight and size of the particles and the amplitude and frequency of oscillation and temperature. The fabric can be drawn through the bath by means of conventional nips. Greater uniformity of treatment may be effected, however, if the nips oscillate in a direction transverse to the line of motion of the fabric, so as to maintain continual alteration of the lateral position of the moving layer of fabric within the bath.

This invention is illustrated by the following example.

A grey cloth of panama weave, undyed and in loom state, was impregnated with a scouring liquor composed of an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate 0.3%, Teepol 0.2%, Nonidet 0.1% and soap solution 0.1%. The cloth was treated in the apparatus illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1.

In this apparatus a trough 1 contains a layer of glass beads 2 having a specific gravity of 3.4 and a diameter of 7 mm. The trough is bolted to a mechanical vibrator 3, which vibrates the balls vertically with a frequency of 50 cycles per second and with an amplitude of oscillation of 1 mm. The trough is provided with slit openings 4 which are wide enough to permit the passage of a layer of fabric 5, but are not sufliciently wide to permit escape of the glass balls. The fabric was saturated with a solution of the scouring liquor and passed slowly and continuously through the bed of vibrating glass balls. After treatment the fabric was rinsed and dried and was found to be clean and fulled.

An alternative apparatus is illustrated in FIG. 2 wherein the numerals 1 to 5 represent similar features as in FIG. 1, the trough 1 acting in this case as an immersion bath. Two troughs 6 adjoin the bath 1. Perforated tubes 7 discharge steam into the bath. The steam is supplied from an inlet tube (not shown). In operation, scouring liquor is poured into the two trough and thence into the bath. Thefabric under treatment is passed into one of the troughs, where it is saturated with the liquid, and is drawn thence through the bath of vibrating balls and finally leaves the apparatus from the second trough. In a further form of the apparatus the damping effect which fluids surrounding the particles is liable to exert on the oscillations can be reduced by spraying the surface of the bed of the particles with scouring liquor, which percolates to the bottom of the container, whence it is recirculated to the sprayer.

What is claimed is:

1. A process of scouring and fulling textile material consisting wholly or partly of wool fibers which comprises impregnating the material with an aqueous solution of a surface active agent and passing said impregnated textile through a bed of relatively dense particles inert to the aqueous solution, said particles being vibrated in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal movement of the material at an amplitude of 0.1-10 mm. and at a frequency of 104000 cycles per second.

2. A process of scouring and fulling textile material consisting wholly or partly of Wool fibers which comprises passing the material through a vessel containing an aqueous solution of a surface active agent and a bed of relatively dense particles inert to the aqueous solution, said particles being vibrated in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal movement of the fabric at an amplitude of 0.1-10 mm. and at a frequency of 101000 cycles per second.

3. A process according to claim 2 wherein the lateral position of the material being passed through the vessel is continuously altered by transverse oscillation.

4. A process according to claim 2 wherein the aqueous solution and particles are heated.

MAYER WEINBLATI, Primary Examiner 

